Unable to find a buyer for Eastland Mall, Columbus-based Glimcher Realty Trust has walked away
from the property, relinquishing ownership to the servicer of the $40 million mortgage.

Still, plans call for the mall, with the majority of spaces filled, to remain open and continue
to serve an area with few similar shopping options.

Florida-based LNR Property is the new owner. It’s a type of business called a special servicer
of Eastland’s commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS.

“A special servicer deals with defaulted mortgage loans,” said LNR spokeswoman Hayley Cook in an
email. “If a loan goes into default, the administration of that loan is transferred to a special
servicer.”

A CMBS is a security owned by multiple investors, often through retirement-plan funds.

The mall will be managed by Texas-based Woodmont Co.

“A lender is a lender first and foremost, not a property owner,” said Woodmont CEO Frederick
Meno. “Our goal is to add value to the property, and if that happens, we provide the lender with
options they may or may not have at the moment.”

Meno said his team will look for new tenants and evaluate the need for renovations.

“In my opinion, finding an occupant for the fourth big box (retail space) is the key,” Meno
said, adding that the mall’s occupancy rate is 95 percent excluding this large empty space. “That
empty box fronts Hamilton Road and gives the mall the appearance it’s not doing well, when from an
occupancy standpoint it is.”

This is another sign that while Class A malls such as Polaris Fashion Place and Easton Town
Center flourish, Class B and C malls struggle, say the experts.

“The macro picture of the demise of Westland and Northland malls is these B and C malls are
feeling the crunch of online shopping,” said Lee Peterson, executive vice president of creative
services at WD Partners, a Dublin-based retail consulting company.

The company has about 28 malls nationwide, and they averaged $468 in sales per square foot in
2013, according to Glimcher reports. Sales per square foot is a key factor in determining the lease
rate a mall’s owner charges.

“If you have something that is not attractive to customers and you have things in your portfolio
working better, you’re better off taking a hit on the things that don’t work and investing in the
things that do,” Peterson said.

“Easton and Polaris are the thousand-pound gorillas in the market,” Meno said. “But Eastland is
still here and that speaks to the location. We have a captive audience in the immediate area, and
we’re going to sprinkle some magic dust and get it stabilized.”